Footballer dies after collapsing on pitch during match

Nigerian defender David Faramola Oniya collapsed on the pitch and died minutes into a friendly for T-Team against another Malaysian side, Kelantan.Oniya, 30, went down after three minutes of the match before being rushed to hospital. He was pronounced dead there around half-an-hour later.Commenting on incident, T-Team’s CEO Syahrizan Mohd Zain said that Oniya did not receive vital treatment quickly enough.

“He suffered a heart attack, but it could have been a different story had the ambulance driver been alert,” Syahrizan said. “The driver was at the stands watching the game when Oniya suddenly collapsed and out defender was deprived of oxygen for several minutes,” he added to the New Straits Times. Oniya had only joined the Malaysian club this season, after playing for clubs in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, and had barely touched the ball in the match on Saturday.

Syahrizan said: “There was no hard running and it was a slow tempo match. “The match was called off in the 60th minute when we received a call from the hospital that Oniya had died”, Reuters reports